Last week I featured some of the new seasons bird babies. Today’s post features some more we saw on our walk through the Nasho a few days ago. Firstly, the feature bird was this juvenile Satin Bowerbird. we captured in a tree As with most juvenile birds, the plumage resembles that of the mother bird and is usually dull brown, a provision of Intelligent Design by our Creator to help conceal and protect the young bird in the nest and in the dark of the tree canopy. The mature colours of the male will not begin to immerge till several years with full male plumage and breeding maturity taking 4 to 6 years. Click on image to enlarge it.

juvenile Satin Bowerbird
Mature Male Satin Bowerbird
Mature Female Satin Bowerbird
Male constructing his bower
Bower with blue objects for enhancing male’s plumage

During its teenage years the male bird will be naturally inclined to learning to build a bower, which can be quite humorous to watch. It is a skill to be mastered, as is the courting dance and song repertoire, similar to the male Lyrebird. During Spring and Summer the male becomes a mating machine with any and every female Bowerbird that remains in his bower and approves his performance. The female will be entirely responsible for nesting and raising chicks. You can learn more about Satin Bowerbirds and what practical life lessons we can learn from them from my books “What Birds Teach Us” and “Flight of a Fledgling”. Click on image below to learn more.

A page from What Birds Teach Us
A page from Flight of a Fledgling

On the grass field by the river in front of the park cafe we saw the juvenile Masked Lapwing grazing. The adult was now allowing them to forage further from his view as they grow larger.

Juvenile Masked Lapwing face on
the specked plumage is protective when viewed from the air matching field

on the same field near the Lapwing were these two juvenile Australasian Swamphen learning to graze with parent nearby. Note the new beginnings of adult blue plumage forming on their bodies.

juvenile swamphen note blue patch
the two youngsters grazing
the watchful parent

Meanwhile back in the courtyard of our backyard I watched this Noisy Miner extract nectar from my wife’s Agapanthus flowers. We were wondering why we would find them drooping to the ground, and now all was revealed. I caught the rascal feeding as it climbed onto the flower and poked its beak into each flower. It realised that if it caused the flower to droop it was much easier to work it. Later when it left I was able to carefully return the flower stem to an almost upright position so it could repeat the process the next day. After all, Noisy Miners are classified as honeyeaters.

accessing flowers
bringing down the flower

May you each enjoy a happy and holy Christmas celebration with family and friends.

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Posted on 20 By aussiebirder Australian birds Posted in Australian birds Tagged #, , , , , , , , , ,
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aussiebirder

My wife and I share a love of bird observing and bird photography which takes us all over Australia. We love sharing our experiences. Birds live in the beautiful parts of our country. We always get blessed with beautiful gifts of new birds and unexpected experiences each time we go out birding or just walking in the parks and reserves in our wonderful land. We love Australia, and the variety that each state and region offers in its wildlife and nature aspects. Join us in sharing our love. We have always found other birders enthusiastic and friendly people who appreciate the good things in life.

20 Comments »

  1. Thank you Ash, for sharing many of your local birds, along with wisdom and warm encouragement throughout the year. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and we pray for a blessed New Year for all your families.

    • Thanks Takami, you’re encouraging comments and faithful friendship has been greatly appreciated throughout the year dear friend. May the New Year bring many joyous and exciting new experiences. There is something on its way to you from us😊

    • Thank you so much for your appreciative comment my Anonymous friend. So delighted it encouraged you. Wishing you a wonderful and joyous Christmas and an exciting and prosperous New Year.

      • Thank you Deborah, yes it is fun seeing how the male Bowerbirds steal blue objects from other bird’s bowers, only to find that while they were away they had their bower attacked and sometimes destroyed by competing males, it is a very competitive time in Spring. Sometimes blue credit cards, pegs, bottle caps removed from washing lines and all manner of blue objects are secretly stolen from humans, as well as bird feathers. May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas together my friend.

    • Thank you my dear blogging friend, I do appreciate you and your wise and comforting posts, and are always aware that we both are able to help those who hurt and struggle because we have been there ourselves. I do appreciate the experience and wisdom you bring in your posts and the blessings we share. I wish you and your family likewise a most enjoyable and peaceful Christmas as we remember Jesus the Reason for the Season. 🙂

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